Decoding the Riddles
by Bottom of the Food Chain
Summary: Albus Potter was having a hard time restraining an anxious whimper from escaping his lips as he scurried down the isle of the Hogwarts Express, his cousin Rose in tow behind him.


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AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION TO THE STORY:  
Okay, so I've technically been working on this for months but I didn't actually kick it into gear until last night after watching the new movie (LOL) .  
I am intending this to be a very long fan fiction with a lot of chapters. I will more than likely go through all seven years eventually.  
There will be a number of pairings (Probably Rose and Scorpius) but they'll happen when they do. My brain can be very whimsical and it likes to do whatever it wants. I tend to let it._

_Also, this isn't going to be the typical "I FEEL IN LOVE WITH HIM THE MOMENT I SAW HIM" fanfiction. It'll be gradual and take some time, like it would in real life. There's going to be a good amount of bantering and friendships and awkward moments and explosive fights before there's going to be any romance. I'm sure you know the game. 8) All of the next generation kids will be included in this and, don't worry, I do all of my research before writing something down. I won't give you any false info._

_And now, without further aideu, I present you with my story._

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**Decoding the Riddles**

Albus Potter was having a hard time restraining an anxious whimper from escaping his lips as he scurried down the isle of the Hogwarts Express, his cousin Rose in tow behind him. This year was the first year he and his red-haired companion were to attend to well-known academy for witchcraft and wizardry, and Albus found himself shaking in his boots.

"_Well, not literally." _He mentally corrected himself. "_I'm not wearing boots, nor am I actually trembling..." _Still, if one were to examine his hands closely, they'd surely see their shakiness and notice how he fidgeted with them. He almost dreaded his arrival to the school, despite the fact that he'd always whined to come with his older brother, James, up until now.

He had received a good deal of awed stares already but both James and his father had told him that's what he should expect for the rest of his life. He was the exact image of his father. The most notable features of him, or so everybody had told him, were his disheveled raven hair and his strikingly green eyes. It all was pretty bothersome; as a child, he couldn't visit anywhere without getting his cheeks pinched and his hands shook by strangers.

He suddenly realized that he had passed a good deal of compartments and remembered that he was supposed to be finding a decent one to sit in. Hopefully they'd be able to find an empty one so that he could confide his worries to his cousin. He whipped himself around to face her. Her freckled and youthful face conveyed sheer excitement, making Albus feel entirely childish.

**"Ooo, Al, I can hardly wait!"** she squealed joyously, practically hoping up and down **"Let's find a seat quickly."** She beamed before scurrying past him and leaping inside a doorway. He saw her head poke out from inside a compartment and she gestured exaggeratedly for him to come.

**"Over here, I found one!" **she cried happily before swooping back inside where she waited for him to arrive. In a few strides, Albus had reached the doorway and glanced around to see several unfamiliar faces peering back at him.

An immensely bored looking boy with skin the color of toffee and sleek black hair covering his forehead in a fringe of bangs roughly swept to the side. His head was pressed against the glass so that his skin stretched, making his features slightly distorted. Despite this , it was easily seen that he was extremely attractive. Albus reckoned he'd probably be a hit with the ladies during his days at Hogwarts with a little irritation.

His mouth was gaping open and he was slouching profusely, displaying nothing but extreme disinterest. Instead of turning his head to view Albus , he merely flicked his hazel eyes toward the door before shifting them back out to the view outside, no longer interested in what he saw.

Albus noticed that Rose sat beside him while another boy was perched lazily across from them, as close to the door as possible. When Al had entered, the boy's eyebrows had raised slightly in curiosity, though a look of distaste still managed to remain present.

His skin was shockingly pale, as was his blonde hair. His eyes, however, were a deep hue of brown which contrasted greatly against his skin. Though his clothing was a dull black in color, it was plain to see everything included in his attire was of high quality and, more than likely, higher price. He looked so well-groomed and clean that Albus was afraid he might get the young man dirty.

Albus sat beside the disdainful eleven year old after he finished examining them and wondered what they thought when they saw him. Rose had already busied herself with stroking Pig's grey feathers adoringly and didn't seem to feel the awkward vibes radiating from everyone else in the cart. She had always been oblivious to subtle things like that, Albus noted. A silence eloped and he found himself gnawing on the inside of his cheek. Finally, he snapped and broke the silence.

**"Rosie, what house do you want to be assigned to?"** He asked even though she had answered the question about a million times in her lifetime. The tightly curled, deep red hair in her ponytail whipped at the tan boy's face as she quickly turned to look at him. He merely flicked his eyes toward her – just as he had when Albus had entered- and then glued them back outside the window, though Albus was sure that he saw annoyance cross his face.

**"I'm sure you'd know by now, Albus!"** she said smiling, her voice so melodic she might have well been singing.** "Gryffindor, obviously."** She concluded with a roll of her eyes before glancing at the other members in the compartment.

The question and her answer seemed to ignite firecrackers inside the small space.

The pale, brooding boy's face contorted into, if it was possible, something even more disgusted than what it had been before.** "There's nothing obvious with that statement, Weasley. Slytherin is where you ought to be praying you'll land up in. That is, if you meet their requirements."** He grinned at Rose, though it wasn't very pleasant . Truthfully, it was more of a sneer than anything.

Albus saw the boy at the window sit up, a smile tugging at his lips. It seemed that he had finally deemed the people around him interesting enough to exert energy for. Albus nervously shifted his gaze to Rosie sitting next to him and recognized the fire aglow in her eyes. It meant that she was feeling bold and, more often than not, mischievous- a trait she'd gotten from the many hours she and him spent with Uncle George.

**"Oh , really? Because my uncle says that Slytherin is where baboons are put, that way, they don't contaminate the rest of the houses."** She said in a mock conversational tone while leaning towards him and propping her head on the palm of her hand. Every fiber of her being oozed sarcasm; it was a feat she'd perfected over the years.

A single bark of laughter erupted from the up-until-then-silent tan boy. He looked positively delighted. The other boy didn't. He propped one of his legs atop the other and folded his arms, that wretched smile still etched on his face.

**"And I'm sure that your uncle is among the most honorable and successful of men?"** He said, rivaling Rosie's sarcastic nature. Rosie looked like she was about to blast back another rebuttal, but the attractive bloke from the window beat her to it.

**"As if you're one to talk, _Malfoy_."** The words sounded like venom as he looked the other up and down in a very intimidating manner. Malfoy ruffled up at these words in a move that very closely resembled that of a flustered bird, puffing its chest out . Albus would have laughed if he wasn't concerned that someone may get their nose punched in.

**"There is honor unlike you could ever understand in being a Malfoy."** He said coolly, his gaze hovering on the other and remaining there. Another awkward silence passed as everyone digested the turn of the conversation. It remained this quiet for a long.

Everything slowly simmered down, Rosie patting ancient Pig's feathers, the tan boy once more peering out at the landscape zooming by, and Malfoy glaring at his tapping foot. Albus began to mess with his wand, happy to have something to do. He'd just gotten it a couple weeks ago and was delighted with it. It was make of maple wood with Unicorn hair in the center. It was smoothed to perfection and a pretty gloss coated it. He stared at it in admiration.

After what seemed like ages, a disturbance broke the ice.

An older bloke who looked very alike to Albus slammed open the compartment door and leaned against the frame , attempting a male model pose and successfully making a scene big enough to embarrass Albus. James was tall and lean, but still considerably muscular. He had the same color hair as Albus, but it was always drawn back in a short, stubby pony tail, only a few strands falling out in the front. He had their mum's warm eyes and a couple stray freckles , but the same general face structure as Albus and their dad. He was a perfect mixture between the couple.

**"James,"** Albus hissed angrily, but before he could continue, the Malfoy made a sound as if he'd popped a toad covered in mud in his mouth , thinking it was a chocolate frog. He then proceeded to stand up straight and shove James roughly out of the way before storming down the corridor, searching for a better place to sit. James stood with his mouth agape for a couple of seconds like he couldn't even comprehend the little first year dared touch a fourth year.

**"Glad to see you've already made so many friends, Ally."** he said finally getting over his shock and entering. **"What a ray of sunshine that Scorpious is."** James clucked, a dark expression on his face. **"He's everything Uncle Ron said he'd be. He'll be the first one to get a surprise headache-hotcake for breakfast this year, let me tell you." **He said with all seriousness. James really did take after Uncle George in more ways to count.

With that, he plopped down in the seat that had been occupied by that same person minutes earlier, stretching out a hand to the only non-family member to Albus left in the cramped space.

**"James Sirius Potter, fourth year, renowned troublemaker, and older brother of that moron."** He introduced, gesturing towards Albus with a nod of his head.

**"Abhay Zabini,"** replied the other, the previous enthusiasm from earlier dwindling quickly. Before long, the same bored expression was plastered on his face. James continued down the line eagerly, hand outstretch. and acted as if he didn't know who Albus was. Albus merely slapped the hand away as if it were a troublesome insect.

**"Well then, seeing that good ol' Ally hasn't yet been attacked by the goblin rampage aboard, I'll be taking my leave."** James said, stretching casually and heading for the door, casting Albus one last faux-worried glance beofre leaving.

**"Wait… James, Goblins?" **Albus croaked out, but James did not turn back . He continued walking away and Albus could hear him across the hall tell a girl something entirely crude followed by a sound that Al knew was a slap. This was enough for him to be soothed a little.

At that moment the famous cart filled with an assortment of goodies passed by their door. Rose happily helped herself, cutting in front of the other two boys without hesitation. She came back with her arms full of sweets and began to devour them at once. She was a big fan of candy. The other two got some as well, though in not nearly as large quantities as Rosie. After ripping out a bite of chocolate frog, Albus decided to try and coerce, now that Scorpius wasn't there to dampen the mood.

**"What 'ouse you reckon you'll be put in?"** he inquired, mouth so full of chocolate that his words were slightly muffled.

**"I don't know , really . My father was a Slytherin in his days – Blaise Zabini. But my mum was Ravenclaw. It's complicated."** He answered, popping a few beans in his mouth. **"It don't really matter, though. My mum said that every house is 'an adequate environment for learning'. "** He said using drawn out quotation marks around his mother's words and rolling his eyes. **"What are your names?"**

**"Oh, I'm Rosie Weasley and this is my cousin, Albus Potter. Nice to meet you."** she said, grinning widely and exposing the large gap between her two front teeth.

Albus smiled but did not laugh , as the pressing issue pushed down harder on him. He couldn't be put into Slytherin. He just couldn't. That was the single thought racing through his mind as Rose and Abhay mindlessly chitchatted and the train took him closer and closer to Hogwarts…

**"Albus, Albus – wake up! Wake up , Al , we're here."** Albus was suddenly jolted awake by a reddish fur ball. Or, that's what he thought it was at first. It was really Rosie's extremely curly, fluffy hair as she bent over him, pulling and pinching on his cheeks.

**"Gerroff, geroff. Immawake" **he slurred, groggily sitting up and blinking tiredly.** "Where's Poppy?"** he asked, finally remembering his pet rat for the first time since his trip. It was, by now, a habit to search for Poppy as soon as he woke up because the thing had a habit of causing trouble as he slept.

**"Don't worry, he's in the same cage as Piggy. They get along great ,you know. I thought they'd be unhappy but… "** she rambled **"They're right here."** She concluded, smiling and holding up a metal grate cage with an irritated looking rat and flustered old owl inside.

Albus nodded , then followed Rose off the train into the darkness that followed. For a moment, he wondered about their stuff but then remembered that they were brought to each student's rooms later. The night was incredibly foggy and it was hard to keep an eye on Rose when she was practically sprinting in random directions, bobbing through the crowds of students.

**"Rose, Rosie, wait!"** he called after her but she didn't seem to hear him. Within seconds ,she got lost amongst the others and Albus just started wandering. Then, a familiar voice boomed from behind him.

**"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! "**

**"Hagrid!"** Albus shouted, spinning around and pulling on his large moleskin coat to grab his attention, a sense of excitement returning to him.

**"All right there, Albus?" **he said, grinning broadly and pulling Albus into a semi-hug with one large , calloused hand.

**"Firs' years come here!"** he hollered again **"Any more of ya? No? Alrigh' , follow me!"** he said herding the large amount of children . They all shuffled along, silent and no doubtably intimidated by Hagrid who towered above them.

**"Hogwarts is jus' round the bend."** He said and, finally they got the stunning sight of Hogwarts across a large black lake, glistening and sparkling even through the large amount of fog.

**"Everyone board up. No more'n four to a boat." **He said and the students did as he said. Albus hoped in one readily and was happy to see that Rose and Abhay accompanied him. Another girl with impressive dreadlocks and superbly long eyelashes joined them crossed the lake and went through a long narrow tunnel until they once more hit a rocky shore. A flight of stairs later, they arrived at huge oak doors. Without another word, Hagrid knocked on the wood and every one waited in a mixture of excitement and anxiousness for what lay behind them.

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_Alright, so I know this was a bit rough but what can I say? Introductions are boring, anyways. Hahaha. _

_Now, let me explain a few things:  
A lot of people like to imagine Scorpius being this perfect little saint, not at all like his parents. That's just NOT going to happen. It's very very rare that I child ends up extremely different from his parents unless something tragic happens. Scorpius is a sheltered and spoiled little rich kid and he'll act as such. Don't worry , he's not going to be a bad guy or their enemy or anything. He'll be paired up just like everyone else. HOWEVER , he'll still be true to his character : a cynical, sarcastic, looking-down-my-nose-at-you kind of guy. _

_SO THERE. xP_

_Besides, where's the fun if there isn't a little arguing? Haha. Tell me what you think! I'm up for suggestions.  
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End file.
